Pro-coal advertising blitz tests Alberta's election rules

National Observer

2 days ago

For months, environmentalist David Thomas has watched as Australian coal mining company Northback Holdings Corp. slathered Crowsnest Pass, on the southern Alberta-BC border, with a charm campaign.
The area's residents had been asked to weigh in on a controversial metallurgical coal mining operation, known as Grassy Mountain, on the eastern slope of the Rockies. There were roadside signs; social media and full-page newspaper ads; coffee receptions at local restaurants — the sheer volume of pro-coal messaging ahead of the November vote made it impossible to ignore the company's side of the story.
"It was quite a bit," he said.
Alberta only allows advertisers to spend $0.50 per resident on municipal election campaigns, totalling $3,043.50 in Crowsnest Pass.
But an investigation by Canada's National Observer into advertising by Debunk Inc., a pro-fossil fuel PR agency with close ties to the province's oil elite, and election expenditure reports filed to the municipality of Crowsnest Pass, suggest that far more money — of unknown origin — went into promoting Grassy Mountain and the coal industry leading up to the vote than the $2,063 that Northback Holding Corp. has officially reported.
Debunk Inc. pulled all 22 of its pro-coal ads on May 29 and 30, after Canada's National Observer sent the company a detailed list of questions about its activities. Debunk Inc. did not respond to the questions.
The Grassy Mountain project will see Northback explore the possibility of underground mining for coal in a disused mine near Blairmore, AB, the biggest town in the region. The proposal was greenlit by the Alberta Energy Regulator in May on the condition that the company only draw water from an on-site source and limit drilling waste.
An investigation by Canada's National Observer suggests that far more money — of unknown origin — went into promoting an Australian mining company's controversial Grassy Mountain project and the province's coal industry.
The municipal vote has no legal weight, but the town saw it as a political lever to push Danielle Smith's UCP government to approve the mine — even though most Albertans say they do not want the province to revive coal mining in the Rockies.
The stakes are high for Albertans: On one hand are seven coal companies — including Northback — that are seeking $15 billion in compensation if the province maintains a decades-old ban on coal mining in the province. That's roughly 20 per cent of the province's 2024-2025 budget.
On the other are fears about the industry's harms — and questions about its future. Coal mining comes with severe environmental and aesthetic consequences, risking water quality for thousands of Albertans who rely on rivers from the Eastern Rockies and harming iconic recreational areas in the province. And the coal might not be worth much, with the International Energy Agency predicting that demand for metallurgical coal will tumble as steelmakers reduce their emissions.
These tensions have transformed the project into a "flagship, or poster child," said Steven Legault, senior manager of Alberta's energy transition for Environmental Defence. "When people think about the battle right now over coal, they're definitely thinking about this southern Alberta fight. They're thinking about Grassy Mountain."
Coal a hard sell
The coal fight started in 2020, when then-premier Jason Kenney rescinded a 1976 moratorium on coal mining. Kenney's move paved the way for a proposal by Benga Mining Ltd. and Riversdale Resources to operate an open-pit mine at Grassy Mountain. Provincial and federal regulators rejected that proposal in 2021, and a provincial committee set up to gather public comment about the project found that 98 per cent of the public comments it received (more than 4,400 in total) opposed reviving the coal mines in Crowsnest Pass.
The opposition even claimed cultural stars among its numbers; acclaimed Alberta country musician Corb Lund re-released a protest song with fellow Alberta musicians Terri Clark and Brad Kisssel amid the possibility of renewed mining.
That public outrage forced Kenney to reinstate the moratorium in 2022. Grassy Mountain was a key focus of the public's opposition. But on Jan. 15, 2025, current Alberta Energy Minister Brian Jean again rolled back the 1976 rules, paving the way for coal development in the region.
The Alberta Energy Regulator's May decision to approve Northback's exploratory proposal makes Grassy Mountain the first coal project approved under the new policy. Days after the regulator's decision, Smith raced to reassure Albertans enraged by the reversal.
'When it comes to coal mining, people do not want to see mountaintop removal," she said on her Saturday morning radio program. "People do not want to see strip mining.'
If Northback Holdings can find a way to mine without those impacts, the Alberta government will be open to it, she said.
Northback reported signs. It campaigned with a lot more
Thomas recalls when Crowsnest Pass itself became overrun by months of old-school ad campaigns boosting the mine.
For instance, on Nov. 13, 2024, the company ran a full-page ad on the front of the Crowsnest Pass Herald urging residents to vote early. The July 17 headline story covered the tours Northback provided of the mine site. A Nov. 24, 2025 story by The Globe and Mail noted the company hosted pub gatherings, wine and cheese nights and coffee chats, and sent employees door-knocking to drive the vote.
The company didn't report any of these costs in its third-party spending filing with the municipality, which states that it only spent $2,063, all of it on signs.
Alberta's Local Authorities Elections Act prevents third-party advertisers from spending over $0.50 per resident annually on ads. The Alberta Regional Dashboard estimates the municipality's population at 6,087 in 2024, putting the ad spending limit at $3,043.50.
In an email, Elections Alberta, the public body responsible for enforcing electoral rules, said it "cannot comment publicly about investigations that it may or may not have been conducting. We are limited to only publishing outcomes on the Elections Alberta website that result in an administrative penalty, letter of reprimand or compliance agreement."
Northback responded to a detailed list of questions from Canada's National Observer with an emailed statement saying the company "fulfilled all legal requirements in the Crowsnest vote. Crowsnest residents voted overwhelmingly in support of the project, and Northback is committed to continuing to work with the local community every step of the way."
But the battle to sell Albertans on coal expanded far beyond coffee chats in Crowsnest Pass.
A social media campaign
The local vote of the electors (similar to a referendum) was called on Sept. 10, 2024. Three days later, a pro-fossil fuel advertising company called Debunk Inc. launched 22 Facebook and Instagram ads promoting coal, according to an analysis of Meta's Ad Library by Canada's National Observer. The ads link to a webpage for a "#coaltruth" campaign, which helps visitors send a letter supporting the province's coal industry to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, alongside her energy and environment ministers.
The organization's website claims it "sets the record straight about Canadian energy" by "uncover[ing] the facts, challeng[ing] misinformation, and showcas[ing] the critical role energy plays in our lives."
Debunk Inc. isn't new, with the website noting the company was founded in 2017. However, this was the first time Debunk Inc. has ever mentioned coal in a positive light.
Since 2020, the page has depicted coal as dirty to bolster the green credentials of natural gas, including posting an image of the cartoon character Charlie Brown, holding a soot-covered bag with the caption 'BC Coal Exports.'
Debunk Inc. has spent at least $11,200 on ads mentioning 'coal' since September 2024. The ads targeted Alberta as a whole but were seen locally in Crowsnest Pass: 10 of them were reposted by the local Crowsnest page, We Are a Coal Town. A 2024 investigation by journalist Brett McKay exposed the group's hidden connections to Energy United, an arm of the oil and gas lobbying organization Maple Leaf Institute.
While Facebook's Ad Library shows that Debunk Inc. paid for these advertisements, the social media company doesn't require advertisers like Debunk Inc. to disclose their clients, obscuring which coal-backed interests financed this advocacy. In our written questions, we asked Northback directly if they had provided funds for Debunk Inc.'s coal campaign. They did not take the opportunity to confirm or deny it.
It wouldn't be the first time Debunk Inc. has received fossil fuel industry funding — Canada's National Observer has uncovered evidence that the organization has received money from oil and gas company Westbrick Energy Ltd., which was purchased by international gas developer Vermilion Energy Inc. in February. Westbrick's community grants page lists Debunk Inc. as a recipient, alongside pro-oil advocacy group Canada Action.
Further investigation reveals that these business relationships intersect with family connections in Alberta's oil and gas industry. Records suggest that Debunk Inc. co-founder Anastasia Columbos is the daughter of Michael A. Columbos, a prominent oil and gas executive who founded Encal Energy Ltd. and served as chairman of West Energy Ltd. until 2010.
Campaign disclosure records show donations from Michael, Elizabeth, and Anastasia Columbos to the 2017 Calgary city council campaign of Alexander Columbos, while an obituary for Eugenia Columbos identifies her son as Michael, married to Elizabeth, with grandchildren named Anastasia and Alexander.
Canada's National Observer sent Debunk Inc. a detailed list of questions on May 29, 2025, asking about its "#coaltruth" campaign, whether it has any links to Northback Holdings Corp., Anastasia Columbos's potential filial ties to Michael Columbos, and how the group ensures its fact-checking is accurate in light of its close ties to the fossil fuel industry. The company did not respond by deadline.
For now, a pause has hit Alberta's coal wars. Northback received its exploration permit, but hasn't revealed when it plans to begin operations. At the end of May, shortly after receiving our written questions, Debunk Inc. dropped all of its Facebook and Instagram ads boosting Alberta coal, and the "#coaltruth" website was glitching when Canada's National Observer visited it Thursday.
In the Crowsnest Pass, Thomas said tensions linger between those who support Northback's proposal and the company's opponents. And there remains a province-wide wariness in anticipation of Smith and the coal industry's next moves, said Legault.
Many Albertans are thinking, "I thought we won, and this project was defeated," he said. "The fact that we're back here again is like an old proverb in the environmental movement: developers only need to win once. Conservationists must always win."